San Diego Padres’ Blake Snell and New York Yankees’ Gerrit Cole received the Cy Young Awards for their respective leagues Wednesday.
Snell’s 2.25 ERA topped MLB, while Cole, who played in one more game, finished a close second with a 2.63 ERA. Both pitchers were also among the top five in total strikeouts, with Snell recording 234 over 180 innings and Cole recording 222 over 209 innings.
This is Snell’s second Cy Young Award, with his first win coming in 2018 while playing for the Tampa Bay Rays. Cole is a first-time recipient.
Snell is also the seventh pitcher to win a Cy Young in both leagues. The six others are Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay, and Max Scherzer.
For Snell, his second Cy Young Award came by leaning into his extremes. Despite walking at least five batters per nine innings, Snell became the first major-league pitcher to win an ERA title. His rediscovery of a four-pitch mix and a late-season shift in mindset helped him achieve this feat.
As for Cole, he led the American League in multiple statistical categories, including ERA, innings pitched, games started, quality starts, ERA+, WHIP and hits per nine innings pitched. Despite being on a $324 million contract, there wasn’t much buzz surrounding Cole at the start of the 2023 season, but his performance made him “the benchmark” for aces, according to Yankees captain Aaron Judge.
Following his Cy Young win, Cole emphasized the need for teams to use analytics to their best advantage going into the next season.
Both pitchers are now poised for potentially lucrative free-agent deals, with Snell’s prowess against elite offenses and Cole’s dominant performance garnering attention from front offices.
The awards solidify Snell and Cole as two of the premier pitchers in Major League Baseball and highlight their extraordinary achievements during the 2023 season.